Saturday, December 31, 2005

All is quiet on New Year's Day.A world in white gets underway.I want to be with you, be with you night and day.Nothing changes on New Year's Day.On New Year's Day.

I... will be with you again.I... will be with you again.

Under a blood-red skyA crowd has gathered in black and whiteArms entwined, the chosen fewThe newspaper says, saysSay it's true, it's true...And we can break throughThough torn in twoWe can be one.

I... I will begin againI... I will begin again.

Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, oh.Oh, maybe the time is right.Oh, maybe tonight.I will be with you again.I will be with you again.

And so we are told this is the golden ageAnd gold is the reason for the wars we wageThough I want to be with youBe with you night and dayNothing changesOn New Year's DayOn New Year's DayOn New Year's Day

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The revelation that Bush secretly authorized wiretaps on certain people is yet another indication of the creation of a police state. Spying on peace groups, restricting access to government information, willingness to torture -- all these signs there should be setting off alarm bells. This is an administration, cabal with an agenda, and they will do whatever it takes, including lying through their teeth, to see their agenda through. This cabal running Washington is one of the most critical threats of our time. Throughout history there have been people or governments who will be remembered as the most dangerous men/women of their time -- Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Hitler and the Nazis to name a few examples. The Bush cabal, actually led by Dick Cheney, fall into that category. It is esseential that the benevolent mask be removed from this horrendous monster so that the American people can see them for what they are.

Saturday, December 17, 2005

I saw Syriana tonight. It was an excellent movie, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to see a movie that would challenge them intellectually and make them think. It is a comlicated movie in terms of plot. There are a number of spearate yet interwoven storylines, so pay attention.

I do think it is an important movie in that it challenges current reality in a number of respects: our dependence on oil, the oil industry's vested interest in violence and unrest, the lengths that industrialists or fundamentalists on either side would go to, including assasinations and bombings, to furhter there own interest, are all highlighted during the course of this film.

Watch it with someone you love. Or someone you want to kill. I have no idea what that means.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Klein's main point in the column I linked to in the repvious post is that the US commission of torure is not a new phenomenon by any means. It has a history, the best example of which is the School of the America's, in which trainees were taught "coercive interrogation techniques" Thus, the claim of shock by many at revelations of torture by the current US government, and shouts of "never again" are problematic in that they deny this history. Nevertheless,

Despite all the talk of outsourced torture, the Bush administration’s real innovation has been its insourcing, with prisoners now being abused by U.S. citizens in U.S.–run prisons and transported to third-party countries in U.S. planes. It is this departure from clandestine etiquette that has so much of the military and intelligence community up in arms: Bush has robbed everyone of plausible deniability.

For those nervously wondering if it is time to start using alarmist words like totalitarianism, this shift is of huge significance. When torture is covertly practised but officially and legally repudiated, there is still the hope that if atrocities are exposed, justice could prevail. When torture is pseudo-legal and when those responsible merely deny that it is torture, what dies is what political philosopher Hannah Arendt called “the juridical person in man”; soon enough, victims no longer bother to search for justice, so sure are they of the futility (and danger) of that quest. This impunity is a mass version of what happens inside the torture chamber, when prisoners are told they can scream all they want because no one can hear them and no one is going to save them.

Gulp. That's makes my blood run cold.

The terrible irony of the anti-historicism of the current torture debate is that in the name of eradicating future abuses, past crimes are being erased from the record. Since the U.S. has never had truth commissions, the memory of its complicity in faraway crimes has always been fragile. Now these memories are fading even further, and the disappeared are being disappeared all over again.

This casual amnesia does a disservice not only to the victims but also to the cause of trying to remove torture from the U.S. policy arsenal once and for all. Already there are signs that the administration will deal with the current uproar by returning to the Cold War model of plausible deniability. The McCain amendment protects every “individual in the custody or under the physical control of the United States Government”; it says nothing about torture training or buying information from the exploding industry of for-profit interrogators.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I found out about this while watching the CBc National tonight, even though it happened a vew days ago. Turns out that American conservatives view Stephen Haper as the great hope with respect to the prospect of "steering Canada in a more conservative direction."

This commentary from a contributor to the Washington Times from the Cato Institute is a great example of this:

Why does President Bush hope Christmas comes a little late this year? Because on Jan. 23, Canada may elect the most pro-American leader in the Western world. Free-market economist Stephen Harper, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, is pro-free trade, pro-Iraq war, anti-Kyoto, and socially conservative. Move over Tony Blair: If elected, Mr. Harper will quickly become Mr. Bush's new best friend.

Warnings abound about the continued presence of progressive politics if the Liberals win. Heaven forbid:

If Martin's Liberal Party is re-elected for the fourth consecutive time, Canadian taxpayers will continue footing the bill for an expensive welfare state epitomized by its archaic government-run health-care system. Social policy experimentation on issues such as drugs and homosexual rights will continue in an incremental but decidedly progressive direction.

To be fair, Stephen Harper has attempted to distance himself from American conservatives by writing a retort to the Washington Times

Thursday, December 08, 2005

As I listen to Happy XMas (War is Over) right now on the John Lennon Collection, I recall. I must have been almost 13 years old when I heard that John lennon has been murdered. Did it impact me? I don't remember where I was. My political views had not developed by this age. I did know, however, that John was my favourite Beatle.

Since then, especially in my adult years when my progressive views have solidified, I have taken him on as somewhat of a hero. He was a mortal human being with imperfections, but it was he stood for. He stood for love and peace, two ideas which were bouncing around in my head like ping pong balls.

This is for John, and may his (our) dream come true:

Imagine there's no HeavenIt's easy if you tryNo hell below usAbove us only skyImagine all the peopleLiving for today

Imagine there's no countriesIt isn't hard to doNothing to kill or die forAnd no religion tooImagine all the peopleLiving life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will be as one

Imagine no possessionsI wonder if you canNo need for greed or hungerA brotherhood of manImagine all the peopleSharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamerBut I'm not the only oneI hope someday you'll join usAnd the world will live as one

And for the coming holiday season:

So this is ChristmasAnd what have you doneAnother year overAnd a new one just begunAns so this is ChristmasI hope you have funThe near and the dear oneThe old and the young

A very merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet's hope it's a good oneWithout any fearAnd so this is ChristmasFor weak and for strongFor rich and the poor onesThe world is so wrongAnd so happy ChristmasFor black and for whiteFor yellow and red onesLet's stop all the fightA very merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet's hope it's a good oneWithout any fearAnd so this is ChristmasAnd what have we doneAnother year overAnd a new one just begunAns so this is ChristmasI hope you have funThe near and the dear oneThe old and the youngA very merry ChristmasAnd a happy New YearLet's hope it's a good oneWithout any fearWar is over overIf you want itWar is overNow...

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Please go to this website and sign the petition there pleaing for the release of the CPT hostages in Iraq. Here is how it reads:

An Urgent Appeal: Please Release Our Friends in Iraq

Four members of Christian Peacemaker Teams were taken this past Saturday, November 26, in Baghdad, Iraq. They are not spies, nor do they work in the service of any government. They are people who have dedicated their lives to fighting against war and have clearly and publicly opposed the invasion and occupation of Iraq. They are people of faith, but they are not missionaries. They have deep respect for the Islamic faith and for the right of Iraqis to self-determination.

C.P.T. first came to Iraq in October 2002 to oppose the US invasion, and it has remained in the country throughout the occupation in solidarity with the Iraqi people. The group has been invaluable in alerting the world to many of the horrors facing Iraqis detained in US-run prisons and detention centers. C.P.T. was among the first to document the torture occurring at the Abu Ghraib prison, long before the story broke in the mainstream press. Its members have spent countless hours interviewing Iraqis about abuse and torture suffered at the hands of US forces and have disseminated this information internationally.

Each of the four C.P.T. members being held in Iraq has dedicated his life to resisting the darkness and misery of war and occupation. Convinced that it is not enough to oppose the war from the safety of their homes, they made the difficult decision to go to Iraq, knowing that the climate of mistrust created by foreign occupation meant that they could be mistaken for spies or missionaries. They went there with a simple purpose: to bear witness to injustice and to embody a different kind of relationship between cultures and faiths. Members of C.P.T. willingly undertook the risks of living among Iraqis, in a common neighborhood outside of the infamous Green Zone. They sought no protection from weapons or armed guards, trusting in, and benefiting from, the goodwill of the Iraqi people. Acts of kindness and hospitality from Iraqis were innumerable and ensured the C.P.T. members’ safety and wellbeing. We believe that spirit will prevail in the current situation.

We appeal to those holding these activists to release them unharmed so that they may continue their vital work as witnesses and peacemakers.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Today is world AIDS day. This cruel virus has been ravaging people and communities for about 25 years now. In spite of medial advancements, the onset of AZT, coctails, and so forth, the ravaging continues. Unfortunately, there is still much work to do, in terms of material and emotional support for those aflicted in their families. The vast majority of current AIDS deaths take place in continental Africa, where a lack of education and support resources, with which the West could help greatly. Every day in Africa, 6000 Africans, 1300 of them children, die of AIDS.

On this day, I would ask people to think about those who have passed from AIDS, and to find out more about the disease and related social issues. There are numerous organizations which attempt to address the AIDS pandemic, including the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Debt AIDS Trade Africa, and UNAIDS.

Addendum: Here is a statement give by Stephen Lewis on World AIDS Day.